FILM 3320 - Shakespeare in Film

5 credit hours
A study of the history of Shakespeare’s plays on film, from early silents to the proliferation of major productions in the last decade of the 20th century. The course will explore the difficulties inherent in converting a work written for the stage into the film medium, an art form far more different from live theater than is often recognized. These difficulties are compounded by the towering reputation of the author and the expectations of an audience familiar with the originals. Within these contexts, the course will study some of the best film versions, not always of the most famous plays, including works directed by Laurence Olivier, Roman Polanski, Trevor Nunn, Kenneth Branagh, Orson Wells, Julie Taymor, and others, as well as works in foreign languages by such directors as Akira Kurosawa and Grigory Kozintsev. VS